Nichols, who also points out he has known Sirota’s husband — radio personality David Sirota[6] — for many years, contrasts the Rowe’s big donors with Sirota’s earnest door-knocking and meager coffers.

MSNBC last night took up the story, having Emily Sirota on the Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell[7], who spins the DPS school board’s nonpartisan race into a Republican attempt to hi-jack the board and develop its farm team in lower level government positions.

“I suspect there is a little of that going on here,” Sirota says.

Hold on there. Rowe is a registered Democrat. And she is being backed by a large number of Democrats, as is Sirota.

Rowe has indeed outraised Sirota at a 3-to-1 clip[12], according to recent finance reports. But even Rowe’s $176,320 isn’t the biggest haul in this year’s DPS school board race. That title belongs to Allegra “Happy” Haynes, who has raised $213,789 and is expected to cruise to her victory in the at-large race.

Sirota in the MSNBC interview says that out-of-the-district interests are the ones who are supporting her opponent. However, Denver Post education reporter Yesenia Robles found that of Rowe’s 274 itemized contributions, three came from out of state and 28 from outside of Denver.

Of Sirota’s 232 contributions that total $57,962, 90 came from out of state, and 31 from outside Denver, Robles reports.

Update: Sirota’s campaign says that Haynes’ fundraising shouldn’t be compared to Rowe’s because she is running for the at-large seat “rather than a district that covers about a fifth of Denver’s population.”

Also, Sirota’s campaign says that 70 percent of Rowe’s contributions — or $124,000 — come from 10 people who live outside of District 1.